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Port congestion has eased in Cape Town, but it will take a lot more than a few extra rubber tyre gantries to fix the current logistics nightmare impacting on all economic sectors, including boatbuilding.
That’s the expert opinion of multiple stakeholders with insight into Cape Town Port’s current challenges, which took centre stage at the CTICC earlier this month at a Western Cape Exporters Club function.
Speakers included some key people involved in crisis talks, among them Port Captain Rajesh Dana and Glen Steyn from the Western Cape Government. There was also input from Wesgro, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Exporters Club chairman Terry Gale.
While TNPA has been working hard to significantly reduce vessel turnaround time and eliminate cargo delays, Port productivity is still markedly lower than it was a few years ago. Equipment failure, skills deficit, and bad weather were some of the major contributing factors to a ‘perfect storm’ impacting the Port – and other Ports too, Dana said.
Congestion and inefficiency impact on boat builders and their suppliers. Some yards report access to water issues, and export shipments are routinely threatened with delay. SABBEX has raised concerns about economic impacts, as have numerous other industry groups, among them the SA Association of Freight Forwarders.
The Western Cape Government is also pushing hard to ensure a speedy resolution to the crisis, particularly in light of the upcoming peak fruit export season which will require additional cargo capacity.
However the good news is that Cabinet and Transnet have confirmed plans to increase public-private partnership in managing Port facilities. Cabinet has approved the Freight Logistics Roadmap which will give effect to greater private sector involvement in the operation of both the country’s rail and port network, while Transnet this month confirmed a spare parts deal with a prominent service provider.
Meanwhile Cape Town has just taken delivery of several second-hand rubber tyre gantries that should make an immediate positive impact on cargo handling. The Port is also implementing the recommendations of a PWC international benchmarking report that seeks to identify key interventions to lift Cape Town from near the bottom of the rankings pile in terms of Port productivity. “We have our blind spots,” Dana told the Exports Club. “Our challenges are real. Most Transnet employees take this responsibility bestowed on them seriously – we don’t rest easily knowing that we can jeopardise 25 000 jobs.”
But Dana also highlighted the weather factor in delaying Port operations; climate change has resulted in increasing wind disruption and troublesome ‘long wave’ action that has a negative impact on ship berthing. TNPA is awaiting delivery of 52 hydraulic shore berthing units to counteract the long wave factor inside the Port.


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Home recipes from 56 constituencies are contained in a cookbook about state’s popular foods
DAPUR Selangor — Bukan Sekadar Buku Resipi (Selangor’s Kitchen ― More Than Just A Recipe Book) is a publication that celebrates Selangor’s melting pot of cultures and foods while paying homage to the state’s history.
It features 56 recipes that represent the 56 state constituencies in Selangor.
These recipes were contributed by the 56 Pusat Wanita Berdaya (PWB) supervisors in each constituency and the creative collaboration was spearheaded by Wanita Berdaya Selangor (WBS).
The project was primarily driven by women and the book included hand-drawn illustrations by artist Ratna Rashidi as well as a poem by national laureate Datuk Dr Zurinah Hassan.
One man who contributed to the publication is WBS brand manager Yazman Yuhana, who provided the photos and text for the book written in Bahasa Malaysia.
The book’s recipes range from appetisers, snacks and desserts to hot dishes and single-dish meals.
It includes both traditional and modern dishes such as Nasi Ambeng, that has been gazetted as a heritage dish of Selangor.
Other recipes are for favourites such as tat bangkahulu, ayam buluh, nasi lemuni, curry chee cheong fun, coconut biscuits and 3D-art jelly cake.
Additional recipes were submitted by three guest contributors — Selangor public health, unity, women empowerment and family committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, Datin Seri Masdiana Muhamad, who is the wife of Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, and celebrity chef Datuk Fazley Yaakob.
“The brief given to the 56 PWB supervisors was to submit a recipe that was unique or something representative of their constituency,” said former WBS chief executive officer Siti Kamariah Ahmad Subki, who is credited as a key driver of the publication.
“The idea for the book started during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Everyone was working remotely and we wanted to get our PWB supervisors together to contribute something for a creative project.
“Hence, the idea for a recipe book, since Malaysians are united by their love of food and cooking is taught in PWB workshops.”
Siti Kamariah said the PWB supervisors were initially slow to respond but all came aboard after learning Dr Siti Mariah and Masdiana would be contributing recipes (mee bandung and Sup Kambing Berempah, respectively).
Dapur Selangor took about one year to be completed, including the process of conceptualisation, recipe testing and the publication’s planning and execution.
When the recipe book project was proposed to her, WBS chairman Dr Siti Mariah said she supported the idea as she perceived it would be a novel way to market something by WBS and PWB.
She said the recipe book would also make a unique corporate gift.
“Our intention was that agencies such as Tourism Selangor and Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) would be able to present Dapur Selangor as a unique gift to their guests.
“Copies will be sent to libraries and government agencies to promote both the book as well as WBS and PWB organisations.
“We printed 1,500 copies for the first edition, most of which have been set aside for promotion and internal distribution.
“However, 450 copies are available for the public to purchase,” she added.
Dr Siti Mariah is hopeful that Dapur Selangor will bring readers fond memories of dishes they may have enjoyed during their childhood, or offer opportunities for families to bond in the kitchen as they attempt to cook the dishes together.
While it is too early to gauge reception to the book since its release in mid-April, Dr Siti Mariah said WBS would consider publishing an English version if there was a demand.
Dapur Selangor is priced at RM35 per copy and is available for online purchase via Book Cafe’s website at bit.ly/43dFujv
Female force behind project
WBS is a subsidiary company established under MBI to realise Selangor’s Women Policy to empower women through three main pillars — policy development, women empowerment and leadership development.
WBS serves as the implementing body for women’s empowerment programmes under the Selangor women empowerment and family standing committee.
PWB was established by Selangor government about 10 years ago as a centre of development and hub for women’s activities in each of the 56 state constituencies.
It organises programmes that are focused on capacity building and skills development.
“The women’s development programmes were previously outsourced to a private company, to be carried out on behalf of the state government,” said Dr Siti Mariah.
“We wanted to ensure the continuity and sustainability of such programmes, even with a change of political leadership.
“So, WBS was established in 2020 under MBI as a special purpose vehicle to run programmes for women.
“WBS also administers and oversees all 56 PWB centres. Although it is headed by a CEO, WBS still functions similar to a state agency in that it has annual work targets, gets 100% funding from the state government and reports to my office,” she said.
Following the launch of Dapur Selangor, Dr Siti Mariah said WBS’ next project would be to create a dedicated platform to sell food and handicraft products made by PWB’s entrepreneurs.
Recipes from home
For Bandar Baru Klang PWB supervisor Michelle Teoh Ngai Fong, food is often associated with fond memories.
The Kam Heong Crab recipe she contributed was inspired by a dish her late grandmother, Lee Swee Hah, used to prepare.
“My grandmother was a great cook. She ran a canteen before becoming a housewife, so she knew how to cook good food.
“She used to cook the kam heong style quite often when I was younger. But she switched to the sweet-and-spicy style since most of her grandchildren couldn’t handle overly spicy food.”
Teoh said a key ingredient in Kam Heong Crab would be fresh crabs, and its spice level could be toned down by omitting the bird’s eye chilli.
The 47-year-old had initially suggested a recipe for a marshmallow-like biscuit, but was asked to contribute something more reflective of Bandar Baru Klang.
Since the constituency is located in the coastal Klang district, Teoh submitted a recipe for a seafood dish.
Sentosa PWB supervisor Iswary Selvanayagam, 41, thought of sharing a recipe for a unique dish but decided to contribute something that could be customised to suit different tastes.
“Pani puri is a snack that appeals to both adults and children as its filling can be customised,” she said.
“The most important item is the puri dough, which is made from semolina and wheat flour.”
While pani puri usually featured a potato stuffing, Iswary said it could double as a dessert with a mint or chocolate filling.
Semenyih PWB supervisor Nur Hazirah Aqilah Ramli, 34, said her Berries Cheesecake was inspired by her six-year-old daughter.
It is a recipe that parents can make with their children.
“My daughter Audrey Nadia Ihsan loves cakes. Due to Covid-19 movement restrictions imposed during Mothers Day in 2020, it was difficult for us to go out to get a cake together.
“She asked if we could make a cake at home. I tweaked a Berries Cheesecake recipe I found online by adjusting the amount of sugar and made that with her,” said Nur Hazirah, adding that she incorporated frozen raspberries, blueberries and strawberries into the cake.
The mother-of-two said everyone in her family enjoyed the delicious no-bake cheesecake that was easy to make.
“I still make variations of cheesecakes with my children. It’s cheaper than buying from shops and the activity allows me to bond with my children,” she added.

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Coldwell Banker Commercial today announced its involvement in helping facilitate Sandy-based client eReplacement Parts, an online, national distributor of tools and machine parts and accessories, move into its new 115,000 square foot distribution center located at 7036 South, 185 West in Midvale, Utah.
In 2009, eReplacement Parts purchased a 15,000 square foot office / warehouse building in Sandy to expand its distribution capabilities. After just two and a half years, eReplacement parts owner Mike Anderson notified Coldwell Banker that it would need to dramatically expand their distribution center.
“I called Randy Ross at Coldwell Banker Commercial who understood the capacity this new warehouse would need to handle,” said Mike Anderson, owner of eReplacement Parts. “The new distribution center has given us the ability to ship thousands of parts orders daily and compete with household brands such as Black and Decker. It’s been a great move for us.”
“It’s a pleasure to be a part of such a great business growth story especially given today’s economic climate,” said Coldwell Banker Commercial’s Vice President of Industrial Randy Ross. “I was pleased to be able to work with Mike and NAIWest, the building’s representative, to find the perfect location.”


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UK based crane/glass handling sales and rental company GGR held an open day at its premises in Haddenham yesterday
The Belgian armed forces has taken delivery of a military grade eight tonne Jekko SPX1280 spider crane
UK crane/glass handling supplier GGR will launch several new products next week at an open day in Haddenham, Bucks
UK crane rental company Wavetrade has taken delivery of its first spider crane, a four tonne Hoeflon C10
German crane rental company Hofmann has taken delivery of a Böcker truck crane, trailer crane and spider crane
Australia's Preston Hire has taken the first two all electric Maeda MC285CB-3 spider cranes in the country
Jekko has launched a lithium battery powered version of its eight tonne SPX1280 spider crane
French rental company Aerial Location has taken delivery of the first all electric 2.82t Maeda MC285CB-3 Lithium spider cranes in France
Italian transport company Goitese Trasporti has taken delivery of a 15.5 tonne Jekko JF545 spider crane
UAE rental company Johnson Arabia has opened a new IPAF training centre and added to its fleet
French access and telehandler rental company Eurolev Vertical Solution has acquired Atna
UK spider and mini crawler crane rental company AMC has taken delivery of a further three Hoeflon C6e all electric spider cranes
Dutch sales and rental company Metzo Machinery has taken delivery of four Unic spider cranes and become a dealer
UK spider and mini crawler crane rental company AMC has taken three more 2.8 tonne Maeda MC285CB-3 all electric spider cranes
Italian spider and mini crawler crane manufacturer Jekko has appointed Stiholt Hydraulic as its dealer for Denmark.
UK based sales and rental group GGR has appointed Steven King as sales & commercial director
Italian spider lift manufacturer Palazzani has introduced a higher capacity hydraulic winch for its 52 metre XTJ 52+ spider lift
UK spider crane rental company AMC has expanded its sales team with four new appointments
UK access rental company Paramount Platforms has taken delivery of the UK’s first 37m Palazzani XTJ 37+ spider lift
UK based spider/mini crawler crane rental company A Mini Crane Hire has changed its name
Italian spider and mini crawler crane manufacturer Jekko has opened a new German subsidiary Jekko Deutschland
Unic Cranes Europe has appointed ANK Cranes as its distributor for Norway and Sweden
Italian spider lift company Palazzani has entered the spider crane market with its new Palcrane range.
The latest digital issue of Cranes & Access is now online and available to read or download.


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Build it or Buy It: Will Amazon or Walmart Win the Retail Innovation Battle?
With Amazon’s patent count rising again last year, it’s clear the company’s “build it” strategy is largely meant to out-invent, rather than outbid, the next big idea. Amazon received 1,963 patents in 2017 according to the latest data released by the IFI Claims office, and holds more patents than any other retailer in the industry (7,096). In fact, at $ 22.6 billion, Amazon spent more in R&D than any other U.S. company last year (up 41 percent from 2016), topping Microsoft, Intel, Facebook and even Apple according to a recent story in Recode.
Amazon has a deep history of effectively chasing patents, which stems from lessons learned in the dot-com era. For example, Amazon’s patent for one-click shopping was issued in 1999 and set the norm for the entire retail industry.
Fast forward nearly twenty years. Today we have Amazon Prime and Amazon Marketplace, and the company is still three steps ahead, inventing what is possible by both shaping and anticipating the needs of consumers. According to a recent CNBC article, Amazon was issued patents last year for augmented reality mirrors that would enable users to try on clothes virtually by projecting different outfits onto the user. They’ve also patented a “smart” sensor-studded package delivery air vehicle, an option that would mute the Amazon Echo’s video mode for user privacy and even one that would detect hacked self-driving cars.
According to a TechCrunch story late last year, the company considers acquisition core to its innovation model, particularly in the technology, retail and digital native brands categories. Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart eCommerce U.S, who founded Jet.com (bought by Walmart in 2016), noted in recent comments that in Walmart’s view, “specialist positioning is better than mass,” and that the acquisition spree will continue. Recent acquisitions include ShoeBuy, Moosejaw, Bonobos, Parcel, Hayneedle and ModCloth.
Walmart has also started its own incubator, Store No. 8, which aims to “nurture startup businesses,” allowing them to run just like other startups but be “ring-fenced by the rest of the organization and backed by the largest retailer in the world,” according to Lore.


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In my previous post, I wrote about the shocking 45.5% unemployment rate, equivalent to 27.3 million people unemployed in the Philippines as of June 2020, according to the Social Weather Station. This unprecedented level of unemployment will affect the shopping behavior of almost half the workforce. Unless the government will be willing and ready to launch consumption stimulus similar to what was suggested in one of my previous posts, we can expect some behaviors defined below in at least half of consumers, which will not help to significantly uplift the gross domestic product (GDP), given three-fourths comes from personal consumption.
Here are what unemployed consumers in a recession will do to cope, according to various past studies in several countries where we can learn from history.
- They will be forced to rationalize what essentials are and drop some of their usual purchases.
- They will postpone purchases, anticipating deals to come out before they buy.
- They will buy less during each shopping trip and increase shopping trips since they have the time to do so.
- They will consume less as part of their belt-tightening efforts, starting from parents sacrificing their usual food share.
- They will be very price and promo driven, buying durables only during major sales.
- They will shift to generic goods and store brands, rather than branded goods, if they are more economically available
- They will shift to shopping at stores known to offer discounts or lower prices.
The goals of displaced people will be to stretch their savings, since they would not know when they can add to that in the future.
I have always advised my clients to have a reality check. Sales revenues come from three major sources – – price, volume and other income, with the latter possibly being from suppliers’ support or income from financial investments.
How can one maximize sales revenue and profits necessary to pay for overheads be if selling prices will be lower, volume will be lower, suppliers are also affected and unable to provide support, and income from financial investment will not be possible when cash position continues to deteriorate and the stock market index is also down?
These 7 changes will cause demand uncertainty, which in turn will affect costs in major categories. Yet companies need to survive first in order to thrive in the future. To do that, they need to look into developing new markets as a new source of revenue to cushion them in their existing markets.
Of course the government can leave the consumption stimulus to the private sector, but the longest lockdown in the world, decided by the Philippine government, has already closed one-fourth of all companies as of June 2020 and crippled many in the retail and non-essential sector. While relying on loans to businesses depends on whether banks will take the risk or invest in other financial instruments, the risk-reward ratio is not exactly in favor of most businesses at the present.
We hope the government’s calculated hedging of an all-out financial stimulus would be the right decision as many people and businesses continue to suffer. The involuntary hunger among our countrymen as of July 2020 is already at 20.9%, equivalent to 5.3 million Filipinos. In my article “Round 4: When The Fight Isn’t Fair”, I quoted from the movie “Too Big To Fail”, where former Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernake said that the devastating economic crisis of The Great Depression of the early 1930’s began with one thing but descended into further crisis because of a failure of imagination of the government. Let us help our government with ideas they can consider.
Josiah Go will be running, for the 36th time, his highly rated “Market-Driving Strategy” Executive Bootcamp, helping progressive clients identify 9 underserved and unserved markets, and 8 ways to be different in the new marketplace during a recession. Visit the website of Mansmith and Fielders Inc. and register directly here: https://www.mansmith.net/program/3795/live-via-zoom-36th-market-driving-strategy


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Chowmain might not be the most famous brand in home automation, but the company does deliver some of the most popular features to top smart-home brands like Control4, Crestron, Elan, RTI and URC.
The New Zealand-based developer of home-control driver and apps will make its debut appearance at ISE 2019, touting new integrations and features for Control4 dealers and end users.
Chowmain has plenty to share this year, but managing director Alan Chow tells us, “Since this is our first ISE, I wanted to focus on some drivers and apps that I am passionate about.”
It turns out, Chow is passionate about TV, HVAC control and consumer empowerment.
At ISE, Chowmain will demonstrate Control4 integration with Sky TV, Virgin Media and Freesat channels, and HVAC controls.
In addition, the company is showcasing a handful of plug-ins for Control4’s T3 touchscreen, allowing consumers to easily set automation schedules and contact their integrator.


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Backplane started out as the team building Littlemonsters.com for Lady Gaga. Now it is opening up its platform to the world’s most iconic brands and announcing strategic investments from Coca-Cola and Cirque du Soleil.
What kinds of posts do well with your Facebook audience? What topics are most viral for your customers? And how can you find clones of your best fans?
Republicans better get down on their knees and pray that Americans never vote via Facebook or Twitter.
Obama voters are camping meditators who like Samsung and Visa and like Paranormal Activity as well as The Colbert Report. Romney voters are quilting gun owners who shop at Walmart, eat at McDonald’s, and watch — believe it or not — Atlas Shrugged, the movie.
Guest Post There’s a significant shift happening where more and more marketers are expanding from targeting Facebook Fans to reaching the people those fans are socially connected to. This change was validated by a recent ComScore report, which is being accelerated by a confluence of factors.
This morning, Facebook officially launched Page Browser, a new tool that seeks to help its users discover and “like” new pages on the site using data from one’s previous likes, and that of users in their immediate social network.


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Can Amazon.com turn the iPad into a Kindle book store?
- Eric Engleman
- Staff Writer
Update: The Kindle app for iPad is now available in the Apple App Store (the free Kindle app for iPhone has been updated and says "Now supports iPad"). So the Kindle app and Apple's own iBooks app will both be available for iPad on its launch day.
The iPad has caused headaches for Amazon.com, with the online retailer forced to renegotiate with publishers who are getting the ability to set higher electronic book prices from Apple and are pushing Amazon to do the same. But for Amazon, the iPad is also a potentially significant sales channel for Kindle books. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Apple's iBooks app will not come pre-installed on the iPad, meaning people interested in reading e-books on the device can pick whatever free book app they want.
That leaves a pretty big opening for Amazon. The online retailer has already said it plans to launch a Kindle app for iPad, letting iPad users browse and buy from its large collection of e-books — 450,000 and counting —and read them on Apple's tablet computer. Apple just released its own iBooks app for iPad today. I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon follows soon, to establish itself early with iPad buyers.
As the Journal points out, Amazon has a much deeper connections to the publishing industry and a bigger selection of digital books than Apple. At the same time, the "agency" model for electronic books that Amazon is being forced to adopt by some publishers may actually boost the company's profits. The model lets publishers set higher prices on new release e-books — up to $14.99 — and gives retailers a 30 percent cut. Amazon traditionally has sold new release e-books for $9.99, reportedly at a loss.
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The Telecom operator Idea has joined the list of telecom operators to add new prepaid plans to offer more to their subscribers. Earlier, Vodafone had introduced two new prepaid plans for its subscribers – Rs 999 and Rs 1,999 prepaid plans which offered long-term validity. And now, Idea too is coming up with the same priced prepaid plans for its subscribers. Idea launched the Rs 999 and Rs 1,999 prepaid plans, both of which come with one year/ 365 days validity.
Idea’s Rs 999 prepaid plan offers 12GB of data to its customers for 365 days. But this plan is only limited to Punjab circle only. The new plan was spotted by Telecom Talk and it is currently selling live in the beforementioned circle. Other than 12GB of 3G/4G data the Rs 999 plan offers unlimited voice calling on both home and roaming network, 100 SMS per day for 365 days. Other than that, the newly launched plan doesn’t bring any more offers and benefits. Comparing it to Vodafone’s plan which offers the same benefits but it also bundles the Vodafone Play subscription as well.
The second plan of Rs 1,999 prepaid recharge plan offers 1.5GB of 2G/3G/4G data everyday for a period of 365 days. If calculated, the plan offers a total of 547.5GB of data benefit to the user for a year. Other than data, the new plan also offers unlimited local, STD and roaming calls along with 100 SMS per day for a year. Currently, this plan is live only in the Kerala circle only. Currently, it hasn’t been revealed by the company when the plan will be brought to the other circles.
Furthermore, the telecom operator has also partnered with Citi Banks to launch an offer where the subscribers will get data and calling benefits for a year. But to avail the Citi Bank Credit card offer, the Idea user need to apply for a credit card on the Idea’s website. They also need to spend Rs 4,000 within 30 days of getting the card. The customers who fulfil these requirements will get 1.5GB of data and unlimited voice calling for 365 days. But this offer is available only on Idea and not on Vodafone.


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When one region boasts three contenders in Amazon.com Inc.'s 20-city short list for HQ2 - literally, a 15 percent chance it locates here versus 5 percent elsewhere - it's time to explore what this means.
That's where the Washington area stands, with D.C., Montgomery County and Northern Virginia all vying for the $5 billion, 50,000-employee prize. So we reached out to someone who can explain what really happens on the ground when the country's eighth-largest public company arrives in your backyard: our Seattle counterpart, Puget Sound Business Journal Publisher and Market President Emory Thomas.
In a talk moderated by Washington Managing Editor Vandana Sinha and edited here for space and clarity, Thomas talked about the need for audacious changes.
What has been the Amazon effect on the Seattle area?
Even Amazon itself wouldn't have been able to forecast the tsunami of growth that we have had in Seattle and in Amazon since then. In 2010, Amazon had 5,000 employees in the city of Seattle. Today, it has 45,000. 45,000. Studies show that the spinoff job implication has been over 50,000, so that's 100,000 jobs that are in Amazon and very closely related to Amazon that have come into the city of Seattle itself - not just the whole region. That's about three times the amount that Amazon itself thought it would grow in that time period.
What do you wish someone had told you in 2010 about what to expect?
I would love for them to have told me to push local leaders to get incredibly audacious about accommodating that growth, imagining that growth, using that moment as in inflection point for doing ambitious things for human services, for transportation and whatever other ambitions Seattle or the HQ2 city has. I think the spinoff benefits will continue for generations. It has also strained Seattle immensely as well.
What have been the biggest strains?
Well, you might have heard that it rains in Seattle. We used to talk about that a lot. Now we talk about the traffic. Seattle had worse traffic than its image might have implied back in 2010, but since then, traffic has just spun out of control. Megacommutes, a commute of 90 minutes or more one-way to work, have catapulted Seattle to the No. 3 position in the country. That number has expanded by almost 80 percent in the last seven years for Seattle.
Another tough effect is housing prices and displacement. The housing prices in Seattle have doubled in the last six years. There are about 700,000 people in the city of Seattle. Amazon made this unusual technology company choice to locate its campus in a city, as opposed to in the suburbs.
And it transformed the South Lake Union part of the city?
South Lake Union used to be parking lots and low warehouses. Now there's a building here, a building here, a building here. It's like watching your 8-year-old build a little Lego city across 20 minutes. It's just unbelievable how much has happened just since 2015, much less since before then. It's just a city within a city that has sprung up in such a short period of time. It's really unusual.
What's that meant?
Seattle has had the most sky cranes in the country for several years now - about 60, which is more than something like San Francisco and New York combined.
What were some early things that Seattle did to prepare for Amazon's arrival?
Actually, one thing Seattle did well is it upzoned and densified some areas of the city, which has paved the way for there to be residential life in the middle of the city, and that densification is actually environmentally friendly. Even though housing has been strained, it has been something of a relief valve on the housing crunch. San Francisco, by contrast, has not upzoned as much as Seattle has, and that's been more a strain on that community, sending home prices catapulting much higher than in the Seattle area, as much as Seattle has grown. That's pretty smart.
What kind of effect has that had?
Something like 20 percent of the employees live in the ZIP code where their office is. That kind of upzoning has allowed for city living, walking to work, biking to work, etc.
You talk about the need for audacious goals. What, looking back, could they have done more, do you think?
First of all, this is what I would advise any community that gets HQ2, is be a teammate with Amazon. The whole HQ2 process has set this up to happen in a way that it didn't happen in Seattle. But hearing from Amazon directly what kind of growth they expect, and therefore what kind of accommodation may be needed, not just for Amazon, but for the city and the region as a whole, would be quite informative.
How much did that happen in Seattle?
Our mayor in Seattle had very little pipeline to Amazon leadership. It's not like he had breakfast with Jeff Bezos once a month. It's just not what happened. City planners had a lot of back and forth with the real estate people at Amazon.
I think you said you FOIAed records, and there were almost no meetings between the mayor and Amazon?
Astounding, isn't it? Can you believe that? That's how not do things. So what they should have done is: Use that moment as an inflection point to do something audacious with transportation, with affordable housing. When you're refurbishing your house, it's always said it's going to be twice as long and twice the budget. Assume that Amazon is going to be growing twice as long and twice as much as it says. Build for that. Build the transportation system and the human resources for that.
What measures did you see Seattle or Washington put in place to really mitigate some of rising housing prices?
Just the densification is the only thing I can site. There are areas of the periphery now of Seattle - so you go north of Seattle, south of Seattle - that are growing like topsy, and they're more affordable. There are certain policies, covenants for developers to provide X amount of housing or X amount of funds for low-income housing. That has helped, but it's just not aggressive enough. It's not far-reaching enough. It's not ambitious enough.
How about the effect on the hospitality industry?
Just in 2017, Amazon itself - not its vendors, not its clients - bought 330,000 hotel nights in the city of Seattle in 2017. At an average, they figure, of $200 a night.
In the South Lake Union area, the Downtown Seattle Association has calculated that about 2,000 new businesses have sprung up in that area, many of them restaurants. But there are other industries as well. Certainly restaurants have exploded.
How has it changed the workforce for you guys?
In some ways, this is the most exciting thing about having HQ1 or HQ2, the talent that it brings into your city and where that talent applies itself in the long run. Like a lot of tech companies, Amazon has fairly high turnover. One of the reasons is because these people have so many opportunities for places to work. They may hop from Amazon to Facebook's fast-growing beach head in Seattle over to Microsoft, back to Amazon. Anyway, all that turnover results in entrepreneurial opportunity and lots of these people come into startups or start startups in Seattle.
Do you get a sense of where Amazon was tapping all these people? Were they already based there in Seattle? Did they come in?
Well, some of them were based in Seattle, and most of them were coming from outside Seattle. I think last year, something like 1,200 people moved to Seattle or to King County every single week. They do this pretty elaborate orientation for Amazon employees. On one Monday in July of 2017, 700 people were there to do orientation together. 700 people in one day joining the company. Nice.
So how did all of these new people fit within the culture and community of Seattle?
Well, I think that's a drama that's still playing out. It's an assimilation that's still playing out. A lot of people who don't work at Amazon or have appointments at Amazon, but remember all their lives driving through South Lake Union look at the place with wonder. "Where did that skyscraper come from? I just drove down here last week, and it wasn't there." They see this as a place that's sort of embedded in where they are, but separate from where they are. There's a little resentment there.
And it took Amazon time to interact more with the business community, right?
I don't remember what the roster of Seattle Chamber of Commerce board of directors was seven years ago. It feels to me like it didn't have Amazon representation. It does now - John Schoettler, who's the head of Amazon real estate, has been increasingly active with the chamber and with other organizations.How about its philanthropy? Amazon has increasingly gotten involved in combating homelessness, devoted something like $40 million to two different organizations just over the past couple years that are really models of transitional housing and uplift for homeless individuals, and has even built a shelter on its own property for homeless families. Like I say, that stuff is increasing. I expect that to continue.
How much are they getting involved in policy making to help fix the problems they created?
It's just difficult in Seattle. The Seattle City Council is really radical. It doesn't interact very well with King County, and neither one of those interact very well with the state. Have you heard of regional conflicts before? I think they have an increasingly good relationship with city planners who get very excited about what they've been able to do to help visualize and build out the city like it has.
And talk about that head tax:
Unlike 20 HQ2 contenders, Seattle doesn't seem to want any more Amazon jobs and is, in some ways, doing its best not to get a single other Amazon job. The city council, in its wisdom, voted unanimously to impose a tax on every job held by a company that had over X number of employees. Yeah. You're bringing jobs to this region? We're coming after you.
How did Amazon react to that one?
Amazon, which is building a gigantic building in the middle of another building, the middle of downtown, says, "You know what? We might put that off. We're going to see what you do with this head tax. We might put that off." Then the steel workers in the Seattle region start lobbying and protesting and marching in the streets of downtown. These are the ultimate constituents. Then you get the top Asian grocer in Seattle saying, "Yeah, this is really going to hurt. We may have to close our satellite office. We may have to really cut back on our expansion." Then suddenly the city council meets secretly two and a half weeks later and votes, 7 to 2, to repeal.
Has Amazon helped your region or hurt your region more?
Yeah, so I think Seattle has been headed in this direction with or without the 40,000 extra Amazon employees. Really, it started with Microsoft and Facebook really planted substantial operations in the Puget Sound region some time ago. I think Seattle is kind of a smaller San Francisco. Its trajectory is absolutely just like the Bay Area. This injection of talent, I think, in the long run can't be anything but good. I bet some of these people at Amazon right now will solve the traffic. They'll bring some of the self-driving car traffic solutions.
OK, 'fess up, where do you think it will land?
I do think that the Greater Washington area is as likely as any. In our office pool at the Business Journal in Seattle, the three sites here get more votes than anybody else for what that's worth, which is nothing. But I think there's a good chance it'll be here. But I think Amazon is also unpredictable. Even though I knew they were getting quite frustrated with their HQ1 host, their announcement of HQ2 came out of nowhere for me. My other guesses would be Boston, Atlanta, maybe New York, or maybe a dark horse like Pittsburgh - sort of a city that has good bones and is on the make and sort of like Seattle, where Amazon feels like they could accelerate them to the next phase.
Emory Thomas talked a bit more about Amazon's effect on still more aspects of Seattle life. Here's what he had to say further, also edited for clarity and space.
The schools in the city of Seattle have improved markedly in the last 10 to 15 years. The graduation rates are better, the skill levels are better. I don't know how much of that is Amazon, but I do think that when you get smart, talented people coming to your town, they expect their smart, talented kids to get taught by smart, talented people. That expectation creates better results. The Seattle area has a lot of private schools. They're busting at the seams. They're doing well.
Most of the jobs that I'm talking about aren't warehouse and fulfillment centers. They're the software developers and the business line executives and the program product managers and so forth. I think with HQ2, we're talking six-figure salaries. I think that would be the average.
ON THE MICROSOFT EFFECT
I moved to Seattle in 1996 right when there was a Newsweek cover that said, "Everybody's moving to Seattle." I felt like a lemming. But yeah, it was a surge of people moving to Seattle at the time. The acceleration level wasn't what Amazon has been. Microsoft already had thousands and thousands of workers, and it was bringing some thousands more. But that is a suburban campus, which in some ways takes some of the infrastructure weight off, and in some ways adds infrastructure weight. It puts more cars on highways. Something like 15 to 20 percent of Amazon employees in Seattle walk to work. Very few Microsoft employees walk to work, but that was this period of surge.
ON LOCATING IN AN URBAN AREA
I wondered if they might alter that playbook, but it feels like, and in my conversation with John Schoettler, who runs their real estate, they want to replicate what has happened in Seattle. They like being embedded in a city. First of all, this is all about talent for them, right? They want to be able to attract the best and the brightest, and they feel like the place that's going to make that happen is going to have urban features. It's going to have arts. It's going to have a street life. Whether it is a slightly more suburban place that's superconnected by public transit and rail, or whether it's embedded in a city, or whether it's sort of a couple different sites that give you the best of both those worlds, it feels very much to me like they want it to be a vibrant.
- Attention Boston: Amazon hates taxes so much it's threatening to move jobs out of Seattle
- How rich is Jeff Bezos? Amazon founder could buy every home for sale in Greater Boston


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We have all been waiting for new Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to make some bold moves and I think that this morning’s announcements would qualify. In addition to moving to Windows Phone 7 for its smartphones, the company will be undergoing a massive restructuring that will include new leadership and changes to the operational work flow.
The Nokia restructure will include the company splitting into two distinct business units: Smart devices and Mobile Phones. The first category will likely be heavy with Windows Phone 7 devices – as per this morning’s announcement – but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the world’s largest handset maker jump into the rapidly-growing tablet market in the not-too-distant future. We’re unclear what operating system it would use for those though, as Microsoft is committed to the Windows OS as its tablet strategy.
The Nokia restructure will also keep the Mobile Phone division which has been quite successful in the lower end of the market. The company said it is committed to Symbian 40 for these types of devices but it is also facing strong competition from the likes of ZTE in this market, as the Chinese handset maker recently cracked the top five thanks to its success with cheap phones for emerging markets.
The Nokia restructure will also include a shakeup of the leadership team, which isn’t a surprise considering what has happened since Elop came into power. It’s not a dramatic change though, as only Alberto Torres will be leaving and the new top dogs will be Stephen Elop, Esko Aho, Juha Akras, Jerri DeVard, Colin Giles, Rich Green, Jo Harlow, Timo Ihamuotila, Mary McDowell, Kai Oistamo, Tero Ojanpera, Louise Pentland and Niklas Savander. Previous reports suggests Ojanpera, Savander, Harlow and others were going to get the boot.
So, this is a major move that will send shockwaves throughout the industry and please let us know what you think in the comments.


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An ongoing legal case in London could provide the impetus for significant reforms to improve human rights protections for workers in the garment industry. The UK legal action doesn’t relate directly to clothing companies, but it sounds a warning that brands and retailers should be prepared to demonstrate effective human rights due diligence.
In September 2019, the UK law firm Leigh Day began a claim against the British American Tobacco (BAT) company for profiting from abusive purchasing practices on tobacco farms. The claimants, Malawian farmers who are part of BAT’s supply chain, contended that they were paid such low amounts that they could not afford to work their tobacco fields without using child labour. As a result, a global company’s legal responsibility for its purchasing practices and labor abuses in its supply chain will receive strong scrutiny.
The garment industry has long been riddled with bad purchasing practices. In a 2019 report, “ Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly,” we added to a growing body of work discussing how brand purchasing practices fuel labor abuses and unauthorized subcontracting.
Brands may themselves fuel unauthorized subcontracts and factories’ non-compliance with international labor standards and local labor laws through a combination of factors. These include low purchase prices, poor forecasting of their needs, insufficient lead times for production, unfair financial penalties and other contractual terms for suppliers, and poor oversight over buying agents.
Unauthorized subcontracting is among the most dangerous risks for workers and brands. The workers in small factories that secretly produce for large brands often don’t suspect they are part of a shadowy operation. These factories usually operate out of sheds or dodgy buildings with poor fire and building safety. The brands’ claims that they didn’t authorize production without showing the steps they are taking to stop causing or contributing to unauthorized subcontracts through their own purchasing practices are not convincing.
Similarly, another intractable challenge in the industry— excessive and forced overtime— can have a direct impact on workers’ safety. There are numerous examples of workers being forced to work excessively long hours and sleeping inside factories because it’s too late to travel home safely. There are also examples of migrant workers living on factory floors because they don’t earn wages that allow them to rent decent housing and still afford other basic expenses.
These problems can only be resolved if brands act on their responsibility to ensure that workers earn a living wage. Without living wages, workers are less able to resist factory demands for excessive overtime.
Many brands contend that one brand or retailer alone cannot change industry-wide problems. Some also point to unscrupulous suppliers. The need for collective brand action and the role of suppliers is no doubt relevant. But in the ultimate analysis, nothing prevents a brand from cleaning up its buying practices to reduce its complicity in abusive cost-cutting by factories.
Brands should make a modest beginning toward more meaningful action on the living wage front and carry forward three concrete steps in 2020.
First, brands should map out living wage estimates in each of their sourcing destinations based on those developed by reliable organizations like the Global Living Wage Coalition and the WageIndicator Foundation, or commission studies to develop estimates where none exist. Further, for every sourcing destination, brands should know and show that they are aware of the shortfall between statutory minimum wages, living wage estimates, and average take-home pay for a regular workday. Producing and publishing such living wage estimates for every sourcing destination will also equip workers to collectively bargain for better wages using such estimates.
Second, brands should adopt strong costing tools that project fair prices and combine them with internal oversight to flag and disallow purchasing teams from placing orders below a certain purchase price for every garment style. This is especially needed to ensure that purchasing teams don’t place orders at prices that do not support the payment of living wages.
Third, new worker-driven monitoring tools show that it’s possible to get workers to independently verify their wages. For example, the WageIndicator Foundation’s project in Indonesia, Gajimu, has been collecting garment workers’ wage slips and interviewing garment workers. Workers’ average wages are published online and can be filtered by factory.
Ensuring that brands rely on worker-driven wage monitoring is important. Brands’ monitoring teams should look to incorporate such assessments so they don’t solely rely on discredited social audits. Combining independent and creative worker-driven wage verification with purchasing practices reform will keep up the pressure on factories to ensure that they pass on the benefits of the purchasing reforms to workers.
The era when companies could get away with claims and advertisements about sustainable and ethical operations in their supply chains is slowly being chipped away by strategic legal actions like the one in the UK. Brands and retailers should be on notice.
Aruna Kashyap is senior counsel in the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch.


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Coming years might be terrifying for Intel as it may see its market share fall to a new low. This is largely due to Apple’s decision to use the Apple Silicon processors in its Mac computers instead of Intel processors.
Apple has announced the beginning of its 2-year-long transition which will see all of its Mac computers (both desktops, and laptops), use Apple’s own Silicon processors. Apple has so far managed to release 4 Macs with the first iteration of Apple silicon, M1. It is expected to complete the transition cycle by next year.
The currently released 4 models will cost Intel an overall loss of 50% of its orders from Apple. By the end of the transition, Intel will lose all orders from the tech mammoth.
In addition to this, Apple’s in-house developed Arm-based processor series is also a concern for Intel. These processors are predicted to cause a huge dent in Intel’s share in the upcoming year.
The Dip in Numbers
As we discussed earlier, Intel is expected to lose nearly 50% of its orders from Apple in 2021. By 2023, the company will eventually obtain no orders from Apple. This means Intel loses Apple’s 10% market share while competitor, AMD will hold on to its other 10% share. This might lead to a slip below 80% in 2023 in Intel’s share in the notebook market.
Intel’s Possible Strategy
Bloomberg recently reported that Apple has been testing high-end Apple silicon chips. These vary from 32 high-performance cores to 128 core options for graphics in their future Mac models. Intel is a big player and it is obviously aware of the impact losing Apple will have. Seeing the scenario, Intel has already run multiple marketing campaigns against Macs. These campaigns have the sole purpose to showcase that laptops powered by Intel processors are much superior as compared to Apple silicon Macs.


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Because Zelle is an easy way to send and receive money, it's also an easy way for hackers to steal it. In a recent Readers Digest article, Monica Eaton-Cardone of Chargebacks911 offers consumers advice about how to protect themselves from P2P scams.
Reader’s Digest is America’s fourth-largest magazine by circulation. After nearly a century in publication, RD stands out more than ever in today’s cultural landscape due to its optimism, faith, heroism, trust, humor, and wellness themes.
The article explained that contactless payments have normalized, and with them, digital wallet options have popped up everywhere. This includes places that used to only accept cash, like farm stands, garage sales, and peer-to-peer payments. While this is incredibly convenient, it can also lead the unsuspecting to become victims of scams.
Zelle scams are simply one of a rising number of P2P payment scams that have emerged in the post-pandemic era. “Over 100 million people use Zelle to transfer nearly $500 billion annually, which is a staggering amount of money,” says Monica. “So, naturally, when you have that many people transferring that much wealth, it’s going to attract the attention of hackers, criminals, and cyberthieves.”
To encourage their readers to stay safe, Readers Digest identified the most common Zelle scams you might encounter and provided information about what to do if you accidentally fall for one. The author warns readers to remember that scammers are sneaky. If something seems off about a monetary transaction, it probably is.


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RelayRides has turned your under-used car into a rental vehicle, and Sidecar and Lyft have made your empty back seats into a makeshift taxi service. So how else can you turn your ride into cash? Transform it into a rolling billboard. That's what a handful of people who've signed up for adverCar are testing out. AdverCar connects advertisers with drivers willing to share space on the side of their car. And why not? It's less of a leap for most to slap a sticker on the side of their trusted auto, than let someone else drive it around for a fee. Canaan Partners certainly sees it that way. The VC firm just gave adverCar $2 million in seed funding.
Before you rush out to get your hoopty detailed to bring on the ad dollars, you need to drive a route that advertisers want to target. Back and forth to spin class at some downscale gym isn't it. Inching your way through rush-hour traffic in major metro areas is.
Using a GPS signal and self-reported driver information, San Francisco-based adverCar sells your commute direction to advertisers that want to target a specific ZIP code or route. That advertiser then asks you to affix stickers to your car hood, sides, and back window, and go about your normal driving routine. In return, you get $100 cash per month, or you can donate your funds to a charity.
The key for adverCar is the GPS tracking, which tells the company exactly which ZIP codes you travel through during the day. "Advertisers give a list of ZIP codes where they want their ads shown, based on the proximity to a business or the affluence of a neighborhood," says adveCar founder Neil Turner. When the company worked with the New Orleans Hornets NBA team, they sought out drivers who lived in or drove through high-end neighborhoods, folks who could afford to drop a fair bit of cash on tickets. And one McDonald's franchise, which ran an adverCar test campaign, wanted drivers that lived or worked within three miles of the restaurant's location.
AdverCar has run 11 test campaigns in four states over the last 18 months, including the Hornet and McDonald's ads. This month, the company's first two official campaigns will run in the San Francisco Bay Area, paid for by two undisclosed companies hoping recruit new tech talent. AdverCar has connected with drivers who drive by or park near Google, Microsoft, and other major tech employers. For advertisers, the cost of running a campaign with adverCar is cheaper than other offline ads at only $4.31 cost per one thousand views (CPM). In contrast, a TV ad has a $21 CPM, and radio ads on average cost $9 per one thousand listeners.
John Reeks, a music professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, was one of the drivers for the Hornets campaign. He's waiting on his next campaign. For him, the cash he receives from adverCar is a nice perk, but not the only thing that drew him to the service. "When I heard about the company, I thought it was a unique idea that I wanted to get involved with – and it didn't hurt that it pays," he says. As a fan of the Hornets, he was more than happy to plaster his car with ads selling season ticket packages for the team. "Each of the campaigns I've participated in have gotten great responses," says Reeks. "With the Hornets ads, I'd pull up to a red light and people would honk to show their support."
Turner knows the concept isn't for everyone. "If you ask 100 people, five of them will say they absolutely want to do this." But those that are eager to lease out the sides of their cars, he says, are "all in" and come back for more campaigns. The majority of the drivers who sign up are women, most of them young moms, who want to supplement their incomes. Every campaign is optional for the drivers, so if someone doesn't want McDonald's ads all over their car, they can wait for the next opportunity. AdverCar has also donated advertising for charities, like the SPCA, who don't have the budget for big billboards, and drivers like Reeks have jumped at the opportunity to support the cause.
Anyone can sign up to be a driving billboard, but there are certain criteria your car must meet to get approved. Turner says the company is looking for late-model cars in good condition, and oftentimes advertisers will request specific car colors, or even make and model, for their campaigns. Advercar uses a VIN verification service to confirm the make, model, year, and driving history of the cars, and affixes the ads at local car washes to inspect each vehicle in person.
At first blush, the idea of driving ads creeping into every part of our cities feels, well, creepy. But if adverCar can match enough advertisers with drivers who already support their products, the ads will feel less like an unwanted invasion and more like a trusted friend recommending their favorite companies. Heck, we already see that with people who willingly wear T-shirts representing beloved brands, sports teams, and companies. And especially in the case of a pro-sports franchise trying to sell tickets, I'd gladly drive around with San Francisco Giants ads on the sides of my sedan if the team signed up for adverCar.


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A well-known local name has a new vision for a wholesome and healing bakery.
Mike Fish, who owned the popular Gingerbread House Bakery on Rochester’s North Broadway, wants to build a new, 6,000-square-foot wholesale bakery on open land just outside of Eyota.
He plans to call it the Bread of Life Bakery. To start with, Bread of Life will focus on wholesale contracts, like with restaurants. However, he hopes to expand to include retail sales.
A fourth generation baker, Fish ran the Gingerbread House for three years. While it was still popular, the bakery began struggling with employee health issues and a lack of space. Fish says God guided him toward taking the leap of faith of closing the bakery in September.
“It was training,” he said of managing the Gingerbread House. “That was just the place to prepare me for what he is calling our family to do … He keeps opening the doors, so we keep walking through.”
That leap of faith put him on a path toward building a new bakery that will be four times the size of the old one, with a focus on healthier products eventually made with locally grown ingredients.
“We really want to make a product that is going to be beneficial to the healing your body naturally does … Plus make it taste good and look good,” Fish said.
His goal is to break ground on Bread of Life this summer. To help that happen, Fish launched a GoFundMe campaign online to raise more money.
“Your support will help us reach our objective at Bread of Life Bakery, which is to bring a variety of whole grain baked goods removed of highly processed sugars and paired with healing ingredients into distressed markets, where growth, immune, and digestive health, as well as cognitive stability are sought after for the caring of those most precious among us, “ Fish wrote on his GoFundMe page. “This will begin as a wholesale distribution location seeking to catch the interest of local growers, allowing us to source a majority of our foundational ingredients (the grains of our grounds, honey of our hives and water of our wells) within a 100 mile radius. After the establishment of the production facility, Bread of Life Bakery will seek retail locations to offer the crafted grain and grain free products to the consumers beyond.”
The launch of his Bread of Life project comes soon after Daube's Bakery in Rochester closed its storefront sites and moved to an online-only model.
A longtime downtown Med City eatery is the latest to announce plans to close, possibly temporarily, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The folks behind Rochester's Creative Cuisine group posted on social media that Friday will be the last night for 300 First at 300 1st Ave NW.
"300 First announces with a heavy heart that we will be closing after Friday night due to the unforeseen circumstances of the last few months. While we hope this isn’t permanent, the staff at 300 would like to thank its loyal customers for over a decade of good times. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us," according to the Facebook posting.
While the upstairs restaurant 300 First is closing, the Redwood Room in the lower level will remain open.
The Currie family opened 300 First in 2008, after transitioning from the former Broadstreet Cafe and Bar format.
Jeff Kiger tracks business action in Rochester and southeastern Minnesota every day in Heard on the Street. Send tips to firstname.lastname@example.org or via Twitter to @whereskiger. You can call him at 507-285-7798.


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The UK's free-to-air digital satellite TV company has announced the arrival of YouTube on its airwaves. The company announced this week that access to YouTube will soon be possible from the Freesat platform. This represents the first time a free-to-air provider in the United Kingdom has made YouTube available to its customers. Freesat will get an HTML5 version of YouTube that is optimized for TVs and offers a fully interactive experience.
"We're now delighted to add to our already fantastic customer offering with YouTube," said Freesat Managing Director Emma Scott. "They join Freesat at a time of rapid growth for our business and will offer our viewers an exclusive, first view of their latest version – previously unseen on free to air TV in the UK."
Freesat yesterday announced that it had added 55,000 new households in the third quarter of last year. The company claims that this is more than Sky (25,000 households) and BT Vision (20,000) combined.
No word on when YouTube will launch on Freesat, just that it will be 'soon,' but we'll keep you posted.


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January 12, 2017
China has raised tariffs on imports of US distillers' dried grains (DDGS) from levels proposed last year, Reuters reported.
Following a year-long government probe, China had complained that the US industry was unfairly benefiting from subsidies.
In a final ruling, the Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday that anti-dumping duties would range from 42.2 to 53.7%, up from 33.8% in its preliminary decision in September. Anti-subsidy tariffs will range from 11.2 to 12%, up from 10 to 10.7%.
China is the world's top buyer of DDGS and fulfils nearly all of its needs from the US, the biggest exporter.
The US Trade Representative did not respond to request for comment. However, US Grains Council President and chief executive officer Tom Sleight said in a statement on Wednesday that the group is "deeply disappointed" by the news.
Companies hit by the new tariffs include global traders Archer Daniels Midland Co and Louis Dreyfus.
Many Chinese businesses cut back on imports of US DDGS since the preliminary ruling in September, turning to local suppliers or alternatives like soymeal.
"I don't buy DGGS from the US anymore and have turned to domestic DDGS, soymeal and rapemeal," said Mr. Hu, who is in charge of buying protein for Chinese feed producer New Hope Liuhe.
Shipments in October and November fell to 135,000 and 163,000 tonnes respectively, about a third of the total in August before the September ruling.
The new rates will take effect today and be in force for five years.


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In line with its preliminary results released last week, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) today reported adjusted fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.09 on revenues of $8.1 billion in revenues. Last week’s pre-announcement included a restructuring of the company that will include the firing of 5,400 employees and a pre-tax charge of $400 million to pay for the restructuring. As expected, net income is down 47% from the fourth quarter of 2011.
The company’s CEO said:
For the full year, EPS totaled $1.01 on revenues of $31.6 billion.
For the first quarter of the new fiscal year, the consensus estimates call for EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $8.02 billion. For the 2013 fiscal year, estimates are for EPS of $4.77 on revenue of $33.33 billion.
Shares are down about 0.7% at $60.32 in after-hours trading today. The 52-week range is 48.84 to $61.97. Prior to today’s release Thomson/Reuters had a consensus price target of around $64.30 on the company’s shares.


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Latest Product News
ABB has provided electrical switchgear and control equipment to telecommunications company China Mobile International (CMI) for its new data centre in Frankfurt, Germany.
BT Wholesale has introduced 100Gb Data Centre Connect (DCC), which allows partners to meet demand for higher bandwidth through the use of a single 100Gbps data centre port.
DataQube Global has announced that its edge data centres can be delivered fully ICNIRP certified and compliant for use with all wireless communications technologies, including 5G.
Vertiv has been selected by Keele University to supply an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system and battery back-up. The new agreement will see Vertiv replace the university’s ageing UPS with a new scalable,…
G-Core Labs, in cooperation with Intel, has developed an XDP-based solution (eBPF), that provides effective mitigation of DDoS attacks with very little impact on overall latency.
Schneider Electric has unveiled new Easy Modular Data Centre All-in-One solutions for European customers.
Schneider Electric has teamed up with Stratus Technologies and Avnet Integrated to deliver micro edge data centres for industrial applications. The EcoStruxure Micro Data Center with the Stratus ftServer has been developed by…
Rackspace Technology has announced a partnership with Cohesity to deliver multicloud managed backup and recovery solutions for its global Rackspace customers.
BT has enhanced its cybersecurity protection for small businesses with the release of new online resources to help companies protect themselves from online attacks.
The ILC 2050 BI industrial controller from Phoenix Contact is designed for the most demanding applications in buildings, infrastructure and data centres, using the Niagara 4 Framework.


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The marijuana industry is red hot right now…
In just a few years, cannabis has turned into a $13 billion market.
But here’s the thing…
A tiny company in Los Angeles is about to give this industry a huge boost.
In fact, we believe this company’s technology could help the marijuana industry explode by 500% or more. That would turn this into a $65 billion profit opportunity.
Today, I’ll tell you more about this extraordinary company — and even more importantly, I’ll explain how you can grab your piece of it before it IPOs.
As I mentioned a moment ago, legal cannabis is already a multi-billion dollar market — but it should be far bigger than that.
You see, there are 255 million adults in the United States, and roughly 200 million of them already have access to legal marijuana.
But because of a surprising fact, 75% of the people who could purchase marijuana — 145 million potential consumers — aren’t doing so.
What’s preventing this market from realizing its full potential?
This Is What’s REALLY Holding Pot Back
Marijuana retailers are forced to operate as “cash only” businesses!
You see, because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, marijuana retailers can’t get access to basic banking services — so they’re forced to transact strictly in cash.
This creates enormous problems for cash-holding business owners, including being the target of criminal activity like robberies and violence.
But equally important, operating in cash severely limits the number of potential customers!
Let me explain…
The Potential for 500% Growth
In a 2018 survey, payment processor TSYS asked 1,222 consumers which form of payment they preferred. Here are the results:
80% chose debit or credit cards. Just 14% chose cash.
Makes sense. Cash is messy and unsafe. In contrast, credit cards are easy, and they can be used to buy things online — which for most people today, is how they prefer to shop.
So if a cannabis business forces customers to deal in cash, it’s severely limiting its potential.
Just think about it: if a customer doesn’t live near a cannabis retailer — and doesn’t have cash in her pocket — she can’t buy anything!
If a company could solve this problem, the cannabis market would explode…
More specifically, if 145 million people could suddenly purchase cannabis online — safely and easily — this market could expand by 400% to 500%.
And that would suddenly create a behemoth of a market worth up to $65 billion.
Introducing: “The First National Bank of Marijuana”
Which is why we’re so excited to introduce you to one of the most extraordinary marijuana companies we’ve ever identified…
We’re calling it “The First National Bank of Marijuana.”
This company’s proprietary technology can help marijuana businesses finally circumvent archaic banking laws and get themselves online.
And this is what will finally give all consumers access to marijuana-based products.
Furthermore, it’ll give the company — and its investors — an unprecedented profit opportunity…
24,724% Pot Profit Opportunity
More specifically, we’re forecasting potential profits of 24,724%, and possibly far more.
Meaning, with this single investment, you could potentially turn a small $500 stake into $124,120…
And turn $1,000 into nearly $250,000.
And if you’re a member of Private Market Profits, you’ll be receiving an in-depth investment prospectus on this opportunity later this month.
We hope you’re just as excited to learn about this deal as we are to share it with you.
So stay tuned!


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The fees charged by claims management companies could be capped under proposals by the City regulator, potentially saving customers a total of £9.6 million a year.
Some consumers currently pay fees of more than 40% of the redress they receive following complaints about products, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said.
Its proposed cap will mean claims management companies (CMCs) will not be able to charge more than 15% to 30%, depending on how much compensation a consumer is due.
This will mean some consumers save several thousand pounds on the fees they pay to CMCs.
The cap will apply to all claims where a consumer is awarded monetary redress, apart from PPI (payment protection insurance) claims, which are already subject to a cap set by Parliament.
We’ve published a consultation on proposals to restrict excessive charging by claims management companies, which could save consumers an estimated £9.6m.
— Financial Conduct Authority (@TheFCA) January 21, 2021
The PPI price cap for CMCs is 20% of the redress paid to the consumer and this will be unaffected by the FCA’s proposals.
Apart from PPI, the vast majority of financial services and products claims currently being managed by CMCs relate to four particular financial services or products – packaged bank accounts, loans, savings and investments, and pensions, the regulator said.
CMCs will also be required to disclose key information, such as saying more about how the fees they pay will be calculated and better signposting to the free alternative routes to redress available.
This information must be disclosed to consumers before they enter into a contract, to help consumers make better-informed decisions, the regulator said.
Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA, said: “We took over regulation of CMCs in April 2019, and have since been proactively supervising the sector.
“When working well, CMCs can provide useful services for consumers.
“However, consumers can experience harm when they do not understand the nature of the service CMCs provide and where they are charged excessive fees. The proposals we have announced today are designed to address this.
“We estimate that the proposed cap on fees could save consumers around £9.6 million a year.”
The consultation is open until April 21 2021, with a policy statement expected to be published in the autumn.


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Next Saturday will be the last chance to drink beer at Tysons Biergarten by the Greensboro Metro station.
“Our landlord… recently informed us they would need our land for redevelopment,” according to a letter from Matt Rofougaran, the CEO and managing partner of Tysons Biergarten.
The owners behind the beer garden are planning to open a new concept called The Shipgarten at Scotts Run, which is set to open in spring 2020, the letter said.
The Shipgarten plans to have four themed shipping containers:
- “The Biergarten” with German and Belgium beers and German food
- Roll Bär offering Asian fusion cuisine and Japanese whiskey
- Chalkboard BBQ serving a rotating menu of barbecue and international craft beer
- Tysons EuroBar — a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant
A “Grand Closing Festival” on Saturday (Nov. 30) will celebrate Tysons Biergarten’s last days at 8346 Leesburg Pike.
Here’s the full letter:
Friends, Family, Patrons, and Supporters,
My name is Matt Rofougaran and I am writing this message on behalf of Paymon and Abe Hadjiesmailoo, Ryan O’Connor, and Nick Rodriguez, the proud owners of Tysons Biergarten. This is one of the hardest letters I have ever written, as it is with great sadness and a heavy heart I inform you we will be closing our doors on Saturday, November 30, 2019.
Tysons Biergarten began as nothing more than a dream shared by 5 guys. Our team successfully transformed a rustic, aging warehouse into a successful restaurant by hand through hard work and determination. We signed our lease with the understanding we would be a pop-up bar, and that one day we would need to shut down. Our landlord (one of the greatest and nicest landlords a small business could ever have) recently informed us they would need our land for redevelopment, which is not much of a surprise as Tysons is well underway becoming America’s next great city!
That being said, our team is not finished here in Tysons! Our next concept will be something this area has never seen before; The Shipgarten! The Shipgarten will be very unique, as it will feature four shipping containers (each with its own concept) along with four large tents for seating and games. The first container will be “The Biergarten”, which will have 20+ German/Belgium beers on draft, German sausages, schnitzels and more! The second shipping container will be Roll Bär our Asian Fusion concept featuring poke bowls, custom made egg rolls, sushi burritos, infused liquor bubble teas, Japanese whiskey, and more! The third container will be Chalkboard BBQ which will feature a rotating menu of barbecue and craft beer from around world along with a wide array of sauces, rubs, and seasonings which will change on a regular basis! Our final container will be called Tysons EuroBar, Tysons’ latest Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant. The menu’s main focus is custom meals. Pitas and bowls with grains are dressed up with meats including beef, lamb, chicken, doner kebab, and falafel, with a variety of toppings from feta cheese to harissa. Mediterranean cocktails, beer, and of course WINE from all over the Mediterranean will be available to compliment your meal.
We also have another restaurant in Del Ray, Alexandria, on the corner of Glebe Road and Mount Vernon Ave called Hops N Shine. Hops N Shine is much smaller than Tysons Biergarten, however, it features 52 beers on draft, custom made grilled cheese sandwiches, and moonshine!
The hardest part about all this is having to part ways with our incredible staff. While we are able to bring a few people over to our sister location in Alexandria, we do not have room for everyone and have contacted numerous bars and restaurants in the area that have all expressed interest in hiring. If you are are aware of anyone looking to hire in the Northern Virginia area, please email [email protected].
Words cannot express how proud we are of the Tysons Biergarten legacy and our opportunity to become a member of such a wonderful community. We have hosted hundreds of events from fundraisers, yappy hours, comedy shows, concerts, corporate happy hours, birthdays, weddings, retirements, holiday gatherings, and much more. You, our guests, along with our spectacular Tysons Biergarten team, have enabled us to build tremendous notoriety these past few years, and I can not thank you enough for allowing Tysons Biergarten to be a part of your lives. Thank you for your years of support and we ask everyone to come in now and use up those tokens before our doors close at the end of the month!
CEO and Managing Partner, Tysons Biergarten
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Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.
The Times UK claims they received an "official marketing memo" by mistake with details about JK Rowling's Pottermore website, which officially launches Thursday at 7 AM EDT at an event at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. According to the story, Pottermore is "a sophisticated online game that contains clues to prizes that are hidden in the real world. These are an unstated number of magic wands secreted in Britain and America, and possibly other countries." The Times notes it's still not clear whether the treasure hunt is Pottermore itself, or a marketing ploy, or if the "leak" is all a marketing stunt. Times UK (behind paywall, via paidContent)
In a conference call with investors Tuesday Barnes & Noble ceo William Lynch said the company now has approximately 26-27 percent of the ebook market, and that ebooks outsell print books on BN.com by a 3-1 margin. But cfo Joseph Lombardi said BN is entering a period where more than 100 store leases are up for renewal, and they now prefer shorter-term leases to compensate for further digital growth. "We'll have the flexibility to close stores in a financially prudent way," he said. WSJ
Today's debate-igniting article comes by way of the NYT, which hops aboard the "independent bookstores charging for events" bandwagon that circles around every now and then. Aside from the Boulder Bookstore, which started charging $5 for events back in April, Kepler's has also started charging customers a $10 gift card, which admits two people to each author appearance, and when McNally Jackson's downstairs renovation to include a larger event space is ready, owner Sarah McNally says the store will start charging for events as well (though she's vague about timing and specifics.) And Roxanne Coady of RJ Julia claims ticketed events bring in about 10 percent of the store's annual revenue.
Ann Patchett (left), currently on tour and set to open a store of her own in Nashville later this year (which, curiously, the NYT failed to report) said she's concerned those who don't have money - namely, students and the elderly - may be left out. “I wouldn't want the people who have no idea who I am and have nothing else to do on a Wednesday night shut out," she said. "Those are your readers." And Bookstore West Portal owner Neal Sofman isn't charging for events - "We are retailers, we are selling a product, for sure, but, at the same time, we're a cultural center" -- but wouldn't rule it out in future. "You can never say never anymore." NYT
Amazon will republish 47 books by Ed McBain, including 35 87th Precinct novels, under its Thomas & Mercer imprint beginning in Fall 2011.


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From Bloomberg: Trump Said to Plan 20% Tariff on Canadian Softwood LumberU.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would impose a 20 percent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber, according to a White House official and two people present...Show More Summary
Also this week: reports on new home sales, consumer confidence, business investment
The key economic reports this week are Q1 GDP and March New Home sales. ----- Monday, Apr 24th ----- 8:30 AM: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March. This is a composite index of other data.10:30 AM: Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for April. Show More Summary
Spring cleaning is in full swing, which means it's out with the old, and in with the new. So why not earn some extra cash by throwing a garage sale and ridding your home of your unwanted items? Here are 12 perennially popular items that are sure to sell like hot cakes. (See also: 10 Easiest Items...
And the number of homes sold is way up Sales of Los Angeles homes surged in March, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors, while sale prices dropped off about 1 percent from February numbers. The median...Show More Summary
The key economic reports this week are March Housing Starts and Existing Home Sales.For manufacturing, March industrial production, and the April New York, and Philly Fed manufacturing surveys, will be released this week. ----- Monday, Apr 17th ----- 8:30 AM ET: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for April. Show More Summary
Reports of a slowdown in the San Francisco housing market are greatly exaggerated, at least according to a new report from Paragon Real Estate. While the real-estate group admits that there has been a lull at the highest end of the market, neighborhoods with more affordable housing (especially those priced around $1 million and under)
Nintendo introduced a new console last month, and it was a big hit in the United States. The Switch was a huge hit in the United States in March, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. That means the hybrid handheld/home gaming device outsold Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4. We knew Switch sold well after […]
The original American summer house Welcome back to Period Dramas, a weekly column that alternates between rounding up historic homes on the market and answering questions we’ve always had about older structures. Not every grand house...Show More Summary
The Brooklyn home market reached new heights during the first quarter of the year, and demand shows no signs of slowing. The record median sale price was $770,000, more than 16% higher than the year... To view the full story, click the title link.
It's no secret that real estate isn't cheap anywhere these days, but these palatial homes give expensive a whole new definition. With listing prices well over what most people make in a lifetime, the most expensive homes currently on...Show More Summary
Corcoran listed the ninth-floor condominium at 160 Central Park South, which includes three bedrooms and a Yamaha piano played by Bowie
A house built on speculation in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco is now asking $40 million. That makes it the most expensive house currently for sale in the city, according to Curbed. Bill Campbell of Marble Management developed the property over the last four years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Show More Summary
A home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side sold for $79.5 million, according to property records made public Wednesday, making it the highest price ever paid for a townhouse in the borough. The... To view the full story, click the title link.
Submitted by Wolf Richter of Wolf Street Based on fundamentals? You gotta be kidding. Residential property sales in Greater Toronto soared 17.7% year-over-year to 12,077 homes, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). New listings jumped 15.2% to 17,052. Show More Summary
Actress Jane Fonda has purchased a town home in a Century City enclave for $5.45 million in an all-cash deal. The town house was the last for sale in the Enclave at Century Woods, a new gated development consisting of just ten residences, according to listing agent Susan Smith of Hilton & Hyland,...
Separated from their family and exhibited in a human zoo during the 1930s, the last sisters face a new indignity: the sale of their childhood home.
McDonald's announced Thursday it will shift to fresh beef in its new made-to-order Quarter Pounder hamburgers in most US restaurants as it seeks to beef up sales in its home market. The fast-food chain by mid-2018 will move away from frozen beef on the popular hamburger, which will be cooked at the time of order, the company said in a news release. Show More Summary
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Bowie's home from 1991 to 2002 is up for sale.


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0x10c will be a game set in space, in a parallel universe, where people made a small error that put the entire humanity to sleep for a loooong time: now it’s year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the universe looks like nothing we knew until now, being filled with black holes and basically on the brink of destruction.
Here’s how the entire story behind 0x10c goes according to Notch himself:
In 1988, a brand new deep sleep cell was released, compatible with all popular 16 bit computers. Unfortunately, it used big endian, whereas the DCPU-16 specifications called for little endian. This led to a severe bug in the included drivers, causing a requested sleep of 0x0000 0000 0000 0001 years to last for 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 years.
It’s now the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the first lost people are starting to wake up to a universe on the brink of extinction, with all remote galaxies forever lost to red shift, star formation long since ended, and massive black holes dominating the galaxy.
Although the game is still in its early development stages, Notch plans to release a playable version as soon as possible and, just like it happens with Minecraft, to let the players shape the universe of 0x10c. Mainly a multiplayer game, 0x10c will probably require us to pay a small monthly fee, while the single player experience will have no recurring pay.
No screenshots have been released yet, but we’re certainly keeping an eye on this project and we’ll tell you more about 0x10c as soon as we have the details.


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An anonymous reader writes Imagine for a moment having at your fingertips the ability to send a small robotic messenger — a minion if you will — virtually anywhere in the world and back. Sure,
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will officially announce its proposed rules for small drones (or UAS — unmanned aerial systems — as the agency likes to call them) on Sunday. However, as Forbes first reported earlier this weekend,
After a number of delays, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today officially announced its proposed rules for small commercial drones. Most of the proposed rules already leaked earlier this weekend. Overall,
Drones are no longer just seen as a tool of the military or a toy that people use to fly around. They’re becoming accepted as a tool that businesses can deploy, and every day more and more companies are being created to build drone prototypes and software to help them fly,
Earlier today , popular maker of consumer drones 3DR announced that its Solo quadrotor would be updated with a system that tells owners where they’re not allowed to fly. Now DJI, makers of the ubiquitous Phantom line, is following suite. Read more...
Hobby drones have come under heavy criticism recently for interfering with firefighting efforts and flying too close to airports . According to NBC News , the Department of Transportation plans to have all drones in the country registered by Christmas.Read more...
Amazon and Google might be chest-thumping about their respective drone delivery programs but the technology is still years out from being feasible in dense urban environments. Dr Mirko Kovac, director of Imperial College London’s current aerial robotics lab,
From military deployment as remote surveillance and killing machines, to hobbyist toys, future delivery bots and now, coming later this year, stadium rockers… Drones have quite the application trajectory. Read More
Following revelations that a civilian-operated drone crashed on the White House lawn , the manufacturer of the drone, DJI, will take steps to prevent its drones from flying over Washington DC. That's the first time that the Chinese company has blocked such a huge area.Read more...
Most UAV owners live happy, litigation-free lives. But others continue to ruin things for us, by flying over wildfires or playing chicken with airliners. A new feature for 3DR’s Solo drone will aim to change all that. Read more...
There's good news, and there's bad news. The good news is that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is getting really close to finalizing its rules for commercial drones. The bad news is that those rules could be terribly restrictive.Read more...
An anonymous reader writes On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a case involving the conviction of a man based solely on the analysis of his "inadvertently shed" DNA.
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft spent billions purchasing Mojang, the studio behind the game Minecraft, and while it's unlikely to start work on a sequel anytime soon, rather than continue development of the game, it's worth considering what a Minecraft 2 will look like. After all,
An anonymous reader writes 14 years after the Anna Kournikova virus took advantage of users' ignorance about file-name extensions in order to wreak worldwide havoc,
Phopojijo writes The Khronos Group has announced the Vulkan API for compute and graphics. Its goal is to compete against DirectX 12. It has some interesting features,
Sparrowvsrevolution writes A new Wired magazine story goes inside the North Korean rebel movement seeking to overthrow Kim Jong-un by smuggling USB drives into the country packed with foreign television and movies. As the story describes, one group has stashed USB drives in Chinese cargo trucks.
jones_supa writes NVIDIA has fixed a long-standing issue in the Ubuntu Unity desktop by patching Compiz. When opening the window of a new application, it would go black or become transparent on NVIDIA hardware. There have been bug reports dating back to Ubuntu 12.10 times.
HughPickens.com writes: The NY Times reports that Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, according to State Department officials.
An anonymous reader was one of many to note that Alibaba has bought a $590 million minority stake in Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu.
theodp (442580) writes "Citing a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (free to Federal employees), the NY Times reports on how elementary school teachers' pro-boy biases can discourage girls from math and science.
An anonymous reader writes Demonii is the tracker behind the scenes for many BitTorrent sites serving pirated content. This week the tracker broke through the barrier of 30 million connected peers, handling no less than 2 billion connections per day. In other words,
Voyat, a social CRM tool aimed at the hotel industry, came out of stealth today and announced $1.8M in seed funding from Metamorphic Ventures, Eniac Ventures, BoxGroup and several angel investors, including Brett Crosby, who was co-founder of Google Analytics.
較早前公佈的 Samsung Galaxy Alpha，由於採用金屬邊框，相信令大家眼前一亮吧？而看來 Samsung 亦有意繼續發展這種金屬手機，因為有消息指該廠將會推出三部同物料的 A 系列新機，並可能會於下月舉行的 IFA 2014 上登場。
随着传感器价格的下降、移动通信网络、云计算和智能处理技术的发展，可穿戴设备、物联网被公认为科技行业下一个 Big thing。
Laying new a transoceanic internet cable is a massive undertaking—laying one across the Arctic especially so. Arctic Fibre has grand plans to venture across the ice and the unmapped ocean floors, threading a trans-Arctic cable to finally connect London and Tokyo directly. Here's how. Read more...
LONDON — Ex-tabloid editor and ex-CNN host Piers Morgan published an open letter to his old adversary Jeremy Clarkson following his dismissal from the BBC.Morgan refers to himself as an "expert in the genre of being removed from high profile media jobs.
香港人對於購買期貨絕對不陌生，因為很多人買新樓，都是購買樓花。購買樓花沒有實景可以參考，買家只可以透過地產商搭建的示範單位，配合銷售說明文件，去選擇不同大小座向樓層的單位。雖然買樓動輒數百萬，是人生重要的決定，但慶幸政府有嚴格規管，加上地產商往往實力雄厚，甚少出現購買樓花後出事，例如延遲交付、貨不對辦、爛尾的問題。以下有更多內容The post 唐言無忌：群眾集資 appeared first on UNWIRE.HK 流動科技生活.


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Sprint’s latest attempt to attack competitor T-Mobile isn’t sitting well with consumers.
The company pulled back one of its newest ads late Tuesday after it came under fire for being racist and insensitive.
The ad in question features Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure asking customers about their perceptions of the big mobile carriers.
“I’m going to tell you a carrier name and I want you to basically tell me what comes to your mind,” the Sprint boss begins. “T-Mobile. When I say T-Mobile to you, just a couple of words?”
A white woman at the table chimes in: “Oh my god the first word that came to my head was (grimacing)…ghetto!”
Claure tweeted afterward that the customer’s remark was “maybe not the best choice of words,” but added that the new ads are meant to show “real comments from real customers.”
What Claure didn’t mention? The real numbers. Last year T-Mobile (TMUS) edged out Sprint (S) to become the nation’s third-largest carrier behind Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).
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Now the former longtime third-place carrier is struggling to stay afloat. Earlier this month, Sprint offered up a sale and leaseback for some $3 billion of cellular networking equipment in an effort to generate some immediate cash flow for the company.
But consumers were not pleased with Sprint’s latest tactic to win the battle for third place. Twitter users voiced their anger with the new ad, some even saying it prompted them to cancel their Sprint service:
So Tuesday evening, Claure announced he was retracting the new ad:
This isn’t the first time the Sprint boss has waged his carrier battle with T-Mobile on Twitter. Last year, Claure and T-Mobile CEO John Legere duked it out on Twitter, with Legere imploring the masses to #sprintlikehell while Claure called Legere’s tactics at T-Mobile cheap and misleading.
For more on Sprint and T-Mobile, watch:
On Tuesday night when one consumer called out Claure for being “just another suit” and disrespectful to Latinos in his latest ad, the Sprint boss said things on Twitter had gone too far:
Meanwhile the other new Sprint ads in series are still around. Claure says they’re not meant to offend anyone; they’re just sharing “customer views.”
As for the losing numbers? Sprint spokesman David Tovar has told Fortune the company is in the midst of a “multiyear turnaround program” and making good progress.


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Shoppers splurging again on little luxuries like lingerie and bath products boosted sales at Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works and helped parent Limited Brands' fourth-quarter net income rise 27 percent, the company said Wednesday.
The retailer said its net income was $452.3 million, or $1.36 per share, compared with $356.1 million, or $1.08 per share, a year earlier. Excluding gains related to selling stock in the Express clothing chain and to an Express dividend payment, Limited Brands earned $1.26 per share.
Analysts expected adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share and revenue of $3.44 billion, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 13 percent to $3.46 billion from $3.06 billion last year.
Fourth-quarter revenue in stores open at least a year rose 10 percent from a year earlier. The comparison is considered a key measure of a retailer's financial health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.
The Columbus, Ohio, company raised its forecast for that key metric for February, saying this month's sales are going better than expected.
For the year, Limited Brands said its net income rose 80 percent to $804.85 million, or $2.42 per share, from $447.9 million, or $1.37 per share, the year before. Revenue rose 11 percent to $9.61 billion from $8.63 billion.
For the current quarter, the company expects to earn 26 cents to 31 cents per share, and it forecasts earnings of $2.15 to $2.35 per share for the full year.
Analysts expect net income of 30 cents per share for this quarter and $2.27 for the year.
Limited Brands will hold a conference call with analysts to discuss earnings at 9 a.m. on Thursday.